Young Iranians were being called to form human chains around their country’s power plants Tuesday — a sign of just how seriously Tehran is taking US President Donald Trump’s threat to bomb the nation’s civilian infrastructure before the day was out.
Tehran Pushes Back On Trump’s Ultimatum
Iran’s deputy minister of youth and sports, Alireza Rahimi, posted a public call on X urging athletes, artists, and young citizens to stand beside power stations across the country at 2 p.m. local time.
“Attacking public infrastructure is a war crime,” he wrote. The appeal came hours after Trump told reporters Monday that the US holds a plan to wipe out every Iranian bridge and power plant by midnight Tuesday — a deadline he tied to Iran’s refusal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway through which a significant share of the world’s oil passes.
#BREAKING: Alireza Rahimi, Iran’s deputy minister of youth and sports, has called on Iranians to form human chains at power plants across the country to denounce the USA bombing threats against the facilities hours before Trump’s deadline for Iran ends.
— Aditya Raj Kaul (@AdityaRajKaul) April 7, 2026
Trump would not say whether the war was winding down or intensifying. He called it a “critical period” that depended entirely on what Iran chose to do next. But he left little doubt about the consequences if Tehran held firm. Iran, he said, could be “taken out in one night” — and that night might be Tuesday.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps fired back, calling Trump’s statements the “baseless” ramblings of a “delusional” president facing military setbacks. IRGC spokesman Ebrahim Zolfaqari warned that any repeated strikes on non-civilian sites would trigger a far larger retaliatory response. Iran’s foreign ministry separately urged Americans to hold their own government accountable for what it described as an unjust and aggressive war.
TRUMP’S DEADLINE: STRIKE, DEAL OR BLUFF
Donald Trump has set an 8 p.m. deadline, warning he will bomb major Iranian infrastructure if Tehran doesn’t reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Based on past behavior, three outcomes are possible:
Back down (unlikely): Trump could avoid…
— *Walter Bloomberg (@DeItaone) April 7, 2026
A ceasefire proposal drafted by mediating countries — calling for a 45-day pause and the reopening of the strait — went nowhere fast. Trump dismissed it Monday as a significant step but said it fell short. Iran rejected it outright, demanding a permanent end to the fighting rather than a temporary truce.
Commanders Killed, Nuclear Site Hit
The battlefield picture grew darker by the hour. Israel confirmed it killed Majid Khademi, the head of the IRGC’s intelligence organization, early Monday. Israel’s defense minister said Khademi bore direct responsibility for Israeli civilian deaths and was among the three most senior figures in the revolutionary guards.
Iran’s supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei — who has not appeared in public since taking over following the assassination of his father at the start of the war — issued a written statement vowing that the killings would not break his forces.
Bitcoin Slides As Ceasefire Hopes Collapse
Markets are feeling the tension. Bitcoin was trading around $68,210 on Tuesday, down roughly 2.50% as Trump’s deadline drew closer and ceasefire hopes faded. The cryptocurrency had briefly climbed to nearly $69,700 on Monday after news broke of the 45-day truce proposal, with trading volume spiking above $29 billion during a 3%-plus surge.
Reports indicate Bitcoin has been swinging between $66,000 and $71,000 since the conflict began in late February, mirroring how it behaved during earlier geopolitical shocks — dropping sharply on escalation, recovering when talks flicker.
Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView
